Wednesday, September 24, 2014

History of the Metropolitan Opera's Opening Nights

I've been in several recent discussions regarding opening nights at the Metropolitan Opera. I'd mentioned I found this year's choice, "Le Nozze di Figaro" to be an unusual, but lucky one. Several friends disagreed saying it wasn't unusual at all and that it could work. I agreed that it could (and does) work, but still maintain for the Met it's an unusual choice. (The Met has only opened with it one other season, back in 1941).

The history of Met Opening Nights is fascinating, with the most frequent opera appearing to be Aida, the choice for
eleven seasons. Otello opened seven seasons and Faust and Roméo et Juliette each opened six.

I find it odd, and perhaps it's just a personal issue, but I'm not in favor of, as has happened several times in the Met's history using a Gala Concert to open the season in lieu of an actual opera performance. I'm sure, however, others would prefer this kind of evening but I don't call them opera lovers!

0 Comments:

Links to this post:

About Me

Crazy, free spirit, originally from New York with side trips through DC, Chicagoland, Tennessee and Florida. Maine is home. Love anything to do with sports, music, food, movies, theatre. Least favorite things: fashion, pretentious people, today's hot new country.